Windows 10: Can I add folders to a bootable USB drive

@Nisko

If you are referring to THIS POST then I suggest you just ignore it. It was more of an show off and I'm sorry I even got stuck at that topic in the first place. Explaining it further is such an advanced topic that we'd both die of old age before we get all required software collected, setup and finally applied to the thumb drive to get any usable results. *Wink

Generally FAT32 is the way to go, unless you are absolutely 100% certain it is absolutely imperative that you will and have to put a single file on the thumb drive that will be larger than 4GB in size. Then we must consider other options. But I'd say it would be easier to just use any archiving application and split that huge file in multiple pieces that are smaller than 4GB in size than exploring any alternatives.

Since you are interested in portable apps, then sticking 7zip there would be a nr1 priority. It can split any file into user defined chunk sizes.

Conclusion:

• Yes you can put additional files on your bootable setup or rescue media thumb stick after it is created
• Yes you should format it as FAT32
• Yes you can add portable apps there
• Yes you should add 7Zip as #1 app in your portable apps folder
• Yes you can transfer files larger that 4GB in size from computer to computer using this drive because you just added 7Zip there, which can split your huge file into smaller chunks.
• Yes you should ignore post #10 written by me in this thread *Wink

I hope it's clear now and I hope I did not confuse you any further. *Smile

 

I use separate thumb drives for house-calls, just to be safe!
One strictly a bootable install thumb drive, the other for tools and tweaks.

 

Yes, if of sufficient capacity a Thumb drive can be partitioned just like a hard drive and the second partition can be NTFS or exFAT. I'd use a 16GB or 32GB but beware if using the MCT to create a bootable Thumb drive any unallocated space above 32GB may not be accessible to Windows, had that happen to me once. Experience and a warning shows the MCT process wipes the drive before formatting as FAT32 and creating the boot process and copying files.

 

Some information in this thread is not completely correct!!! NTFS can be used if the UEFI Firmware version is 2.0 or later.
My PC is 6yr old and has no problem booting with NTFS.

The only reason that we advice people to format the bootable drive to be FAT32 so that it will be compatible with the UEFI Firmware version prior to 2.0
so it can boot with UEFI Mode.

For UEFI Firmware version later than 2.0. The restriction of FAT32 is no longer required.

Below is the screen shot of a 64GB Lexar USB initialized as MBR disk. From Disk management, it shows as drive I: formatted with NTFS and set as Active. Support both MBR and UEFI.
The content is Windows Installation with 12699.334 Cumulative Updates added so the install.wim is around 4.5GB exceeding file size limit for FAT32.
One folder and 2 executable files added.




When booting the Windows installation, one needs to find out what drive letter the USB is assigned to, in this case it's F: to access files and folders. Note that I ran pescreenshots.exe to take a screen shot below:

 

What is the MCT process? Thanks.......

 

MCT = Windows Setup Media Creation Tool, which allows you to download and create a burnable disk image in ISO format or a bootable thumb drive.

 

Yes, it's easy to forget the first several postings will have information applicable to later ones and for later visitors to start at the beginning of threads 'just in case' and that when using acronyms the full name should be used at the first instance of the acronym.
Can I add folders to a bootable USB drive - Windows 10 Forums

 

If the MCT is used and then I attempt to add folders to the flash drive, why wouldn't they copy into the drive?

 

You may find PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB, portable, and cloud drives A good place to visit for a vast selection of apps for the exact use you are considering. Also check out Sysinternals from Microsoft and Nirsoft



Warning some of the tools in both Sysinternals and Nirsoft are very powerful and can be dangerous if used incorrectly. Some of the tools in Nirsoft can be flagged as dangerous due to the nature of their purpose (password recovery Etc], I have never had an actual issue with them in many years of use

 

1. How do I determine which version of UEFI firmware I have?
2. What is pescreenshots.exe?
3. I assume I have to determine the drive letter of the flash drive IF I want to access folders and not install Windows?
4. Why did you highlight a folder and two files in your screenshot?
I'm having fun on this thread because I'm learning!!!

 

1. How do I determine which version of UEFI firmware I have?
Win+R->msinfo32 and look for SmBIOS
2. What is pescreenshots.exe?
A portable program when run will allow user to use PrintScreen Key from the Keyboard to take a Screen Shot of what on the screen under WinPE.
3. I assume I have to determine the drive letter of the flash drive IF I want to access folders and not install Windows?
Yes. That's what you asked in this thread, when connected in Windows it's assigned letter I: but under WinPE it's assigned different Letter ie. F:
4. Why did you highlight a folder and two files in your screenshot?
Again, your question was: Can I add Folders to a bootable USB drive ? The answer is yes,, highlighted those files and folder that are not part of Windows Files.


NOTE:: I would not advice to create extra partition(s). Even though you can create them but not guarantee they will be recognized if connect to an older PC.
Just create one single partition, format as NTFS, set Active then create any extra Folder(s) to store the portable program(s) or portable Tool(s).

Bottom line: my answer is exactly what you asked!!!

 

Thanks for all the help - all of you. I now understand what I was asking about!

 

Oops!! I just thought of one more question: When using the MCT, I'm told that it automatically reformats the thumb drive as FAT32. However, if a file or folder is larger than 4GB, FAT32 won't handle it. That is my understanding. If so, how can I put the update on a flash drive that has been formatted as FAt32? I'm just not clear on this item Thank you.

 

The MCT does not use any files over 4GB. That is why. I have used my USB flash drive in Fat32 the whole time. I read on this subject and NTFS will cause more read/writes and wear it out faster. They last so long in my opinion it would not matter. I just use FAT32 and let the MCT do its thing. Hope that helps.

 

I use a 16GB Thumb drive, let the MCT process format and create the bootable as needed. I save the Build updates on the same drive as they are seldom over about 1GB to 1.5GB in size for the 64-bit, smaller for the 32-bit Offline Installer downloads. For the updates I let them go to the Downloads Folder then copy later to the Thumb drive.